Shane Watson and David Warner slaughtered eight Indian bowlers at will as Australia became victorious comfortably by losing just one wicket.

India scored 140 runs after losing seven wickets in the measured 20 overs and Australia achieved the target by plundering 141 runs for the loss of just one wicket in 14.5 overs.

Shane Watson – Excellent all round performance

Shane Watson (Australia) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his outstanding all round performance in the game.

The 16th match of the ICC World Twenty20, in Group 2, was played on Friday, September 28, 2012.

The Indian captain, MS Dhoni, beat the Australian skipper, George Bailey with the coin and opted to bat first. Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan opened the innings reasonably well by scoring 21 runs in the first 2.5 overs when the first was run out on the next ball for 17 runs. The backbone of Indian batting, Virat Kohli, dropped in the ground next and started his innings with a four on the first ball he faced. Irfan Pathan added 11 runs in the fifth over with 1 six and 1 four and the first fifty of the innings was attained in the following over.

The score was enhanced to 56 in 7.2 overs when Virat Kohli was caught smartly at mid-off by Daniel Christian off Pat Cummins for 15. The Australian bowlers took over from there as the wickets of the Men in Green started tumbling. Irfan Pathan was gone for 31 off 30 balls with 1 six and 2 fours as Rohit Sharma became the next victim after scoring just one run. India got in deep trouble when Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni provided some resistance against the lethal bowling of the Kangaroos.

The duo enhanced the score to 104 in 16 overs as Dhoni lost his wicket for 15 and Suresh Raina was the seventh batsman who went back to the pavilion for 26 off 19 deliveries with 4 fours. India managed 140 with three wickets in hand after the last ball of the 20th over was bowled.

Shane Watson bowled well and held three wickets, Pat Cummins got two and Mitchell Starc claimed one wicket.

The Australian innings was started by their star opening pair of Shane Watson and David Warner. They did not take any risk initially and the score reached 22 in the first four overs. Ravichandran Ashwin was hit for a couple of spicy sixes by Shane Watson in the next over as Warner added 2 fours in the sixth over. MS Dhoni introduced Piyush Chawla in the 8th over, Watson welcomed him with two huge sixes and Harbhajan Singh faced the same fate from the same batsman in the next over.

Shane Watson was in a horrible mood and blasted Irfan Pathan for 19 runs in the 10th over comprising two sixes and one four. He achieved his 9th T20 fifty as well and the hundred of the innings also appeared on board in the same over. Warner was dropped by the wicketkeeper Dhoni at 45 off Yuvraj Singh and the batsman scored his 8th half century in the 13th over.

The first wicket partnership concluded when Shane Watson was caught by Manoj Tiwary at short extra cover off Yuvraj Singh for 72 off just 42 balls with 7 giant sixes and 2 fours. David Warner remained unbeaten for 63 from 41 deliveries with 3 lofty sixes and 7 fours as Australia thrashed 141 runs with nine wickets in hand and 31 balls to spare.

Australia won the match comprehensively by a big margin of nine wickets and secured two valuable points.